Mr. Speaker, I am very confident that the ratification is going to come through. If it does not, the air traffic controllers cannot go on strike until the CLRB tells us what are essential services.

If the House has to come back, I am sure every member in the House will be happy to come back because we followed the process. I must tell the House that the air traffic controllers cannot go on strike until it goes in front of the CLRB for essential workers.

This is a great day for the process in the labour department. I want to thank everybody involved. The air traffic controllers will not go on strike without the CLRB's approval.

Mr. Speaker, I, along with members on all sides of the House of course, rejoice at this announcement that has just been recently made.

I intend to get together, within perhaps minutes, with leaders of other parties in the House in order to establish what could be protocol should the situation be necessary of the kind that the House leader of the opposition has just described. Perhaps over the next few minutes some of these things will become clearer and we will get together in the usual spirit of the way we have done things around here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the leaders of all other parties in the House for their continuing interest throughout the process, and particularly their patience, because sometimes it was literally minutes ahead of time that I could make information available to them.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to an order of the House made May 25, 1999, I have the honour to table copies of a document entitled “Research Plan for the Use of Marijuana for Medical Purposes: A Status Report”.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government response to the 13th report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, “The Year 2000 Problem—Canada's State of Readiness”

Marcel MasséLiberalPresident of the Treasury Board and Minister responsible for Infrastructure

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 109, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to the 23rd report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts entitled “Preparedness for Year 2000—Government-Wide Mission-Critical Systems”.

Jacques SaadaLiberalParliamentary Secretary to Solicitor General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service for 1998. I ask that it be referred to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian Group of the Interparliamentary Union which represented Canada at the 101st Parliamentary Conference held in Brussels, Belgium from April 10 to 16, 1999.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

In accordance with Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertook a study on sealing issues. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests a comprehensive response from the minister to this report within 150 days.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 108.1, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 19th report of the Standing Committee on Finance.

In March the Minister of Finance gave the Standing Committee on Finance the mandate to strike a standing subcommittee to consider the tax system and the system of transfers to families with dependent children.

The subcommittee travelled across the country to solicit many views of Canadians. A number of individuals and organizations participated in the hearings, including some of our very youngest citizens.

The terms of reference were very precise. I would like to thank the committee members for their diligent work on such a broad subject. There were very different points of view, but we felt that the government, as a first step, should take note of the report. Those points are captured very well in the report entitled “For the Benefit of Our Children: Improving Tax Fairness”, which has been adopted by the Standing Committee on Finance and which I am presenting today.

Mr. Speaker, in response, pursuant to Standing Order 35(2), Reform members of the official opposition support some of the recommendations contained in the report of the subcommittee on family taxation. However, we are disappointed that its recommendations do not go far enough.

The official opposition recognizes the value of parenting and would like to ensure that the federal government treat Canadian families fairly. Among other things, the official opposition advocates extending the child care expense deduction to all parents, converted into a refundable tax credit available to all families, and that the spousal amount be increased from the current $5,918 to $7,900, levelling the field. We would also implement across the board broad based tax relief.

These measures are a start to addressing the unfairness in the tax code with respect to its treatment of Canadian families.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the seventh report of the Standing Committee on Health.

In accordance with its order of reference of March 8, 1999, your committee has reconsidered Bill C-247, an act to amend the Criminal Code (genetic manipulation), and has agreed to recommend that Bill C-247 be not further proceeded with at this time as comprehensive and integrated legislation is being prepared by the department for introduction this fall.

A copy of the minutes and proceedings relating to this bill, meetings Nos. 86 and 87 of the first session of the 36th Parliament, is tabled.

I thank all committee members for their diligent study of this bill, in particular the hon. member for Drummond who brought it forward.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fifth report of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs proceeded to the consideration of a study on veterans' issues and the merchant marine. The committee has agreed to report to the House with three specific recommendations. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests a government response.

For many months our committee studied what was an emotional and complex issue. We had very full and fair hearings. Anyone who wished to give any type of testimony whatsoever was welcome. There were no remaining witnesses and the committee was seized with the report.

The three specific recommendations which the committee proposes to the government, if followed, would go a long way toward righting the wrong for the merchant marines collectively in terms of their contribution to winning the second world war.

The title of the report is “A Story That Must Be Told: The Canadian Merchant Navy and Its Veterans”. If these recommendations are followed there will be a much more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the very vital role played by the merchant navy in winning the second world war.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to present the following petitions pursuant to Standing Order 36.

The first petition is from a number of residents of Kamloops who point out a whole variety of sound reasons for which they oppose child pornography and they ask the Parliament of Canada to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that laws relating to the possession of child pornography are never legalized.

Mr. Speaker, in the third petition quite a few petitioners indicate their concern about the government's action in terms of the pension fund for 670,000 current and future retirees of federal departments, crown corporations, agencies, the military and the RCMP. In summary, the petitioners do not like what the government has done.

The first petition proposes that Canada take the lead in working toward a treaty banning nuclear weapons in accordance with the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade in its report to the House.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition calling upon the House to change the Criminal Code regarding animals to ensure that abusive treatment is more harshly dealt with in the Criminal Code and to ensure that animals are not treated as the personal property of individuals so they may be better protected.

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition which I would like to present today regarding marriage.

The petitioners, from around the riding of St. Albert as well as Edmonton, pray that parliament enact legislation such as Bill C-225 so as to define in statute that a marriage can only be entered into between a single male and a single female.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, we passed a motion to that affect in the House last night.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from petitioners in Peterborough who pray that the Parliament of Canada immediately amend the Criminal Code to streamline the judicial process and provide sanctions that better reflect the seriousness of drinking and driving by introducing amendments that provide for tiered penalties for driving with a blood alcohol count above .08% and to introduce mandatory assessment and treatment for offenders who are sentenced for impaired driving.

The petitioners ask the government to repeal the curative discharge provisions and to authorize alcohol interlocks as a term of probation for drinking and driving offenders.

Mr. Speaker, I table a petition from the residents of the Magdalen Islands.

The signatories are opposed to what they term discriminatory measures in the Atlantic groundfish strategy, particularly the early retirement program.

In their petition they claim that the TAGS measures adopted by the Department of Human Resources Development are insufficient and not adapted to the needs of workers in the fishing industry. They also claim that they were not consulted before the program was implemented, particularly on the early retirement component.

They are therefore calling upon the government to give consideration in the post-TAGS program to people who turned 55 after December 31, 1998.